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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 148

41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula), known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Claudius succeeds his nephew.
772 - Stephen III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
817 - St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV
1076 - Synod of Worms: German King Henry IV fires Pope Gregory VII
1118 - Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II
1328 - King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen
1458 - Matthias I Corvinus chosen king of Hungary
1534 - Francois I signs classified treaty with evangelical German monarchy
1556 - Heavy earthquake strikes Shaaxi China, kills 830,000
1568 - Abdij Church in Middelburg destroyed by fire
1568 - In Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw
1613 - Amsterdams merchant Hans Bontemantel baptized
1616 - Jacques Le Maire discovers Street Lemaire/Cape Receiver
1634 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor
1639 - Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders
1644 - Battle at Nantwich Cheshire: Parliamentary armies win
1652 - Duke of Orleans joins Fronde rebels
1656 - 1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
1659 - Pierre Corneille's "Oedipe," premieres in Paris
1679 - King Charles II disbands English parliament
1722 - Czar Peter the Great begins civil system
1722 - Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st US divinity professor (Harvard)
1742 - German leaders elect Charles VII Albert Emperor
1764 - Gov Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire
1776 - Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
1839 - Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society
1847 - 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Col Price
1848 - James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma, Calif
1857 - The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia.
1859 - Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler.
1861 - Arsenal at Augusta, Ga seized by Confederacy
1861 - Federal troops from Ft Monroe are sent to Ft Pikens
1862 - Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza
1862 - Bucharest proclaimed capital of Romania.
1874 - Gen J van Swieten conquerors Kraton Atjeh, after 1000's die
1874 - Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov," premieres in St Petersburg
1875 - Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre," premieres
1878 - The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
1892 - battle at Mengo, Uganda: French missionaries attack Brit missionaries
1899 - Belgium govt of Vandenpeereboom forms
1899 - Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan
1900 - Battle at Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
1900 - Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, forms in England
1901 - 1st games played in baseball's American League
1901 - Emily Hobhouse view lord Kitcheners concentration camp at Bloemfontein
1902 - Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
1908 - Gen Baden-Powell starts Boy-Scouts
1913 - Franz Kafka stops working on "Amerika"; it will never be finished
1914 - Opera "Madeleine," premieres in NYC
1915 - German-British sea battle at Doggersbank & Helgoland
1922 - -54°F (-48°C), Danbury, Wisconsin (state record)
1922 - Eskimo Pie patented by Christian K Nelson of Iowa (not an Eskimo)
1922 - Lehman Caves National Monument established
1923 - Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM established
1924 - Mussolini disallows non-fascists work union
1924 - Russian city of St Petersburg renamed Leningrad
1925 - Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Is
1925 - Sandler follows Branting as premier of Sweden
1927 - Director Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.
1930 - J E Mills scores 117 on Test Cricket debut, NZ v England, Wellington
1930 - Stewie Dempster scores New Zealand's 1st Test century
1933 - Noel Coward's "Design for Living," premieres in NYC
1935 - 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," is sold by Kruger Brewing Co
1936 - Benny Goodman & orch record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records
1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France
1939 - 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile
1939 - Eddie Collins, Willie Keeler & George Sisler elected to Hall of Fame
1939 - Spanish govt moves to Figueras
1941 - British troops march into Abyssinia
1942 - Musical "Star & Garter," premieres in NYC
1943 - Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death
1943 - Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau
1944 - Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy
1945 - Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg
1947 - NFL adds 5th official (back judge) & allows sudden death in playoffs
1948 - "Music in My Heart" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 124 perfs
1948 - Australia all out 674 v India (Bradman 201, Hassett 198*)
1948 - Dutch Liberal Party forms-People's party for Freedom & Democracy (VVD)
1950 - Jackie Robinson signs highest contract ($35,000) in Dodger history
1951 - Dutch govt Drees-van Schaik resigns
1952 - 1st NFL team in Texas, Dallas Texans formerly NY Yanks
1952 - Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base
1952 - Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
1954 - BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Don Carter
1954 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Tampa Women's Golf Open
1956 - 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)
1958 - After warming to 100,000,000 degrees, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion
1959 - "Party with Comden & Green" closes at John Golden NYC after 38 perfs
1959 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's comedy "Cheryomushk," premieres in Moscow
1959 - WHCT TV channel 18 in Hartford, CT (IND) begins broadcasting
1960 - Algeria uprises against French president De Gaulle
1961 - Edward Albee's "American Dream," premieres in NYC
1961 - Lazard Brothers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68
1962 - 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany
1962 - Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles
1962 - Jackie Robinson is 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1962 - Mickey Wright/Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Naples Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1963 - Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champ
1964 - CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million
1964 - Martin Kresses final comic strip of Eric the Viking

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 215

76 - Publius A Hadrianus, 14th Roman Emperor (117-138)
1287 - Richard Aungerville, English bishop (d. 1345)
1444 - Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1476)
1638 - Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet (d. 1706)
1664 - John Vanbrugh, London, dramatist/architect (baptized)
1670 - William Congreve, English playwright (d. 1729)
1674 - Thomas Tanner, English bishop (d. 1735)
1679 - Christian von Wolff, German philosopher
1705 - Farinelli, [Carlo Broschi], Andria Italy, castrato
1712 - Frederick II, (the Great), king of Prussia (1740-86)
1712 - Georg F Schmidt, German engraver/etcher
1724 - Frances Brooke, English writer (d. 1789)
1732 - Pierre de Baumarchais, France, playwright (Barber of Seville)
1742 - Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn (d. 1808)
1746 - Gustav III, king during Swedish Enlightenment (1771-92)
1750 - Wybo Fijnje, Dutch politician/patriot/journalist
1754 - Andrew Ellicott, American surveyor (d. 1820)
1758 - Johann Chrysostomus Drexel, composer
1763 - Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (d. 1831)
1767 - Antony CW Staring, Dutch lawyer/poet (Jaromir)
1774 - Karl Moser, composer
1776 - Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, German writer/judge/composer (Undine)
1778 - Charles F, duke of Berry/son of French king Charles X
1779 - Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden), Russian tsarina (d. 1826)
1798 - Karl von Holtei, Silezian actor/playwright (Die Vagabunden)
1798 - Karl von Staudt, German math professor (projective geometrician)
1800 - Edwin Chadwick, British social reformer
1814 - Abraham Czn van Stolk, Dutch art collector
1814 - Abraham Czn van Stolk, resources/art collector
1820 - John Milton Thayer, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1906
1828 - Adam Jacoby Slemmer, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1868
1828 - Ferdinand J Cohn, German botanist/publicist
1828 - Karol Studzinski, composer
1829 - William Mason, composer
1832 - John Pegram, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1865
1848 - Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
1859 - Alexander Alexandrovich Il'yinsky, composer
1862 - Edith Wharton[-Jones], US, novelist (Ethan Frome, House of Mirth)
1864 - Marguerite Durand, French feminist leader (d. 1936)
1872 - Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (d. 1943)
1872 - Ethel Turner, Australian author (d. 1958)
1874 - Arthur Shomburg, famous African
1880 - Elisabeth Achelis, creator (World Calendar)
1883 - Estelle Winwood, [Goodwin], England, actress (Miracle on 34th Street)
1886 - Henry King, American film director (d. 1982)
1888 - Ernst Heinrich Heinkel, German inventor (1st rocket-powered aircraft)
1888 - Hedwig "Vicki" Baum, Austrian/US author (Men Never Know)
1888 - Henry King, US, director (Jesse James, 12 O'Clock High)
1891 - Walter Model, German fieldmarshal
1895 - Albin Zollinger, Swiss poet/author (Der Halbe Mensch)
1895 - Eugen Roth, writer
1898 - Cliff Heathcote, American baseball player (d. 1939)
1902 - Oskar Morgenstern, German/US economist
1902 - Walter Keirnan, New Havens Ct, TV panelist (I've Got a Secret)
1902 - E. A. Speiser, American Bible scholar (d. 1965)
1903 - Robert Gwathmey, artist (Arts & Letters)
1906 - Norman Cook, museum curator
1907 - Alfonse Vranckx, Belgian lawyer/politician
1907 - Maurice Couve de Murville, France premier (1968-69)
1909 - Ann Todd, Hartford England, actress (Paradine Case, 7th Veil)
1909 - Tiny Winters, musician
1911 - C[atherine] L[ucille] Moore, US, sci-fi author (Judgment Night)
1912 - Ken Weekes, cricketer (WI batsman v England 1939, 137 at The Oval)
1913 - Mark Goodson, TV game-show proudcer (Goodson-Toddman)
1913 - Norman Dello Joio, [Dello Ioio], NYC, composer
1915 - Ernest Borgnine, Hamden Ct, actor (Ice Station Zebra, McHale, Marty)
1915 - Robert B Motherwell, US, painter (Elegies to the Spanish Republic)
1915 - Vitezslava Kapralova, composer
1916 - John Corner, scientist
1916 - Vic Stollmeyer, cricketer (bro of Jeff Scored 96 in only Test innings)
1916 - Jack Brickhouse, American sports broadcaster (d. 1998)
1917 - Ernest Borgnine, American actor
1918 - Gottfried von Einem, Bern Switzerland, Austrian composer (Dantons Tod)
1918 - John McLiam, Alberta, actor (Parker-Men From Shiloh)
1918 - Oral Roberts, Televangelist; needs $8,000,000 (Oral Roberts College)
1919 - Leon Kirchner, Brooklyn NY, opera composer (Lily)
1919 - Nora Beloff, journalist/author
1920 - Don Saddler, Van Nuys Calif, dancer (Holiday Hotel)
1920 - Jerry Maren, actor (munchkin-Wizard of Oz, Mayor McCheese)
1921 - Bernard J Dwyer, (Rep-D-NJ, 1981- )
1922 - Neil Franklin, soccer star
1922 - Charles Socarides, American psychiatrist (d. 2005)
1923 - Simeon ten Holt, composer
1924 - 8th earl Spencer, English large landowner/father of Diane
1924 - David Craighead, composer
1924 - Klaus George Roy, composer
1924 - Marvin Kaplan, Brooklyn NY, actor (Top Cat, Henry-Alice)
1924 - Robert W Kastenmeier, (Rep-D-WI, 1959- )
1925 - Maria Tallchief, Fairfax Ok, ballerina
1925 - William Hudson, Calif, actor (I Led 3 Lives)
1926 - Georges Lautner, French director and screenwriter
1927 - Paula Hawkins, (Sen-R-FL, 1981-86)
1927 - Sir Patrick Macnaghten, 11th Baronet, British aristocrat (d. 2007)
1928 - Desmond Morris, English zoologist (Human Ape, Body Language)
1928 - Michel Serrault, French actor (d. 2007)
1930 - Bernard Matthews, English turkey farmer/multi-millionaire
1931 - Ib Norholm, composer
1932 - Werner Steger, composer
1933 - Ron Townson, rock vocalist (5th Dimension-Aquarius) [or Jan 29]
1933 - Zeke Carey, US R&B-singer (Flamingos-I Only Have Eyes For You)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 118

41 - Caligula, [G C Germanicus], Roman emperor (37-41), assassinated at 28
661 - Ali ibn Abu Talib, kalief of Islam (656-61), murdered
772 - Stefanus III/IV, pope (768-72), dies
772 - Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
817 - Stefanus IV, pope (816-17), dies
1125 - David IV of Georgia (b. 1073)
1336 - Alfonso IV, the Benignant, king of Aragon (1327-36), dies at 36
1366 - Alfonso IV of Aragon (b. 1299)
1376 - Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English military leader
1473 - Conrad Paumann, German blind organist/composer, dies
1547 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, executed for treason
1595 - Ferdinand II of Austria (b. 1529)
1626 - Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer (b. 1580)
1639 - George Jenatsch, Grisons leader, assassinated
1666 - Johann Andreas Herbst, composer, dies at 77
1678 - Joan Maetsuyker, gov-gen of Neth East-Indies, dies at 72
1709 - George Rooke, English admiral (b. 1650)
1769 - François de Chevert, French general (b. 1695)
1805 - Giacomo Conti, composer, dies at 50
1812 - Eligio Celestino, composer, dies at 72
1851 - Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini, Italian composer, dies at 76
1856 - Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir, Polish Hasidic leader (b. 1775)
1862 - James McIntosh, US confederate brig-gen, dies in battle at about 33
1864 - Otto Jonas Lindblad, composer, dies at 54
1864 - Stephen Gardner Champlin, brig-general (Union), dies at about 36
1877 - Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (b. 1796)
1882 - Levi Boone, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1808)
1883 - Friedrich von Flotow, German baron/composer, dies at 70
1884 - Johann Christian Gebauer, composer, dies at 75
1885 - Martin R Delany, politician & black nationalist, dies at 72
1895 - Lord Randolph Churchill, British politician (b. 1849)
1901 - Simon Hassler, composer, dies at 68
1904 - Franz Coenen, composer, dies at 77
1911 - Carl Eilhardt, composer, dies at 67
1911 - David Graham Phillips, American journalist and novelist (b. 1867)
1913 - Gustav Luders, composer, dies at 47
1918 - George Arthur Crump, Founder of the Pine Valley Golf Club in Clementon NJ (b. 1871)
1924 - Thephilo Braga, Portuguese poet/politician, dies at 80
1924 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1894)
1929 - Willem Royaards, theater directeor (Adam in Ballingschap), dies
1932 - Alfred Yarrow, English shipbuilder (b. 1842)
1939 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
1940 - Emile van Bosch, revue/operetta-artist, dies at 52
1943 - John Burns, English minister of Local Government (1905-14), dies
1947 - Felix Timmermans, writer/painter (Gift from St Nicholas), dies at 60
1948 - Maria Mandel, Camp Leader at Auschwitz (b. 1912)
1948 - Arthur Liebehenschel, Commandant at Auschwitz concentration camp (b. 1901)
1950 - Bull Montana, actor (Son of Sheik), dies at 62
1953 - [Karl R] Gerd von Rundstedt, gen-field marshal (Normandy), dies at 77
1955 - Ira Hayes, American World War II hero (b. 1923)
1957 - Daniel Taylor, cricketer (bro of Herbie, 2 Tests for S Af 1914), dies
1960 - John Miljan, actor (Charlie Chan in Paris, Yankee Clipper), dies at 66
1961 - Willem J M van Eysinga, people rights scholar, dies at 82
1961 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)
1962 - Tom Shirley, actor/TV announcer (They're Off), dies at 62
1962 - Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (b. 1877)
1964 - Joseph Schildkraut, actor (Joseph Schildkraut Presents), dies at 68
1965 - Winston Churchill, PM of Britain (C) (1940-45, 51-55), dies at 90
1966 - Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist (b. 1909)
1967 - Howard Charles Shaiffer, entertainer, dies at 49
1969 - Pauline Hall, composer, dies at 78
1969 - Tom Zachary, baseball pitcher (Wash Senators), dies at 72
1970 - James "Shep" Shepherd, rocker (Shep & Limelites), beaten to death
1970 - Caresse Crosby, American poet (b. 1891)
1971 - Bill W., American co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (b. 1895)
1972 - Jerome Cowan, actor (Mr Dithers-Blondie), dies at 74
1973 - Alan Lisette, cricketer (took 3 wickets in 2 Tests for NZ 1956), dies
1973 - J Carrol Naish, actor (Charlie Chan-Adv of Charlie Chan), dies at 73
1973 - Masao Ohba, world champion Japanese boxer (b. 1949)
1975 - Larry Fine, actor (3 Stooges), dies at 72
1978 - Herta Oberheuser, German doctor (b. 1911)
1979 - Jerry Damon, comedian (That Was The Week That Was), dies at 51
1979 - Mabel Taliaferro, actress (My Love Come Back), dies at 91
1982 - Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian president and dictator (b. 1918)
1983 - George Cukor, director, dies of stroke & heart attack at 83
1986 - Gordon MacRae, singer (Oklahoma, Carousel), dies at 64
1986 - L[aFayette] Ron[ald] Hubbard, author (Death Quest), dies at 74
1986 - Flo Hyman, American volleyball player (b. 1954)
1988 - Charles Glenn King, biochemist (discovered vitamin C), dies at 91
1988 - Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (b. 1905)
1989 - Ted Bundy, serial killer of up to 100 women, executed in Florida at 42
1989 - George Knudson, Canadian golfer (b. 1937)
1990 - Madge Bellamy, actress (White Zombie), dies at 87
1991 - George Gobel, comedian, dies of a heart attack at 71
1991 - Lawrence Lott, actor (Real Men, Phila Experiment), dies of AIDS at 40
1991 - John M. Kelly, Irish politician and academic (b. 1931)
1992 - Charles Moulin, French actor (French Tarzan), dies
1992 - John Bleifer, actor (Highway to Heaven), dies at 90
1992 - Tina Chow, model, dies of AIDs at 41
1992 - Ricky Ray Rector, American murderer (b. 1950)
1993 - Thurgood Marshall, 1st black supreme court justice (1967-91), dies 84
1993 - Ugur Mumcu, Turkish journalist (Cumhuriyet Murder), dies
1994 - Michalis Vranopoulos, head of Greek state bank, murdered at 48
1995 - Ian Prestt, English ornithologist, dies at 65
1995 - Victor Reinganum, artist, dies at 87
1995 - Wim H Sinnige, Amsterdam PvdA alderman of Finance, dies at 60
1996 - Sandor Iharos, athlete, dies at 65
1996 - Ursula Heathcote Nicholls, campaigner, dies at 75
1997 - Callum Alexander MacDonald, historian, dies at 49
1998 - Jay Monahan, husband of Katie Couric, dies of cancer at 42